Soin Neuroscience — Pain Relief Through Technology, Not Opioids

Dr. Amol Soin, Soin Neurosciences Founder The opioid crisis in the United States is an on-going struggle for people’s lives and well-being. According to the , more than one million people have died from a drug overdose since 1999.

In 2021 alone, there were 106,699 drug overdose deaths reported. And the age-adjusted rate of overdose deaths increased by 14% from 2020 (28. 3 per 100,000) to 2021 (32.

4 per 100,000). With these sobering numbers as a backdrop, , and its founder Dr. Amol Soin, are pioneering pain treatment methodologies that circumvent the reliance on opioids in the hope of achieving non-addictive pain relief solutions.

Dr. Soin is a practicing interventional pain physician based in Dayton, Ohio. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Akron, followed by an anesthesiology residency at Rush University, and pain management fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic.

He also has an MBA from the University of Tennessee. In addition to his clinical career, he has also been involved with a number of startups in various advisory capacities. Soin has a very clear vision and objective for his company: “We have invented two things to treat pain.

One is a spinal cord stimulator that can get pain scores to 0 or near 0 in different patients by customizing the signal to what that individual person likes. The other is the ‘gel patch,’ a new type of pain patch that rubs on like a gel and dries clear. ” Tailoring Functional Outputs to Achieve Patient-Specific Pain Relief Spinal cord stimulators to treat chronic pain are devices that are surgically inserted into the spine that deliver electrical impulses directly to the spinal cord to block pain.

It makes use of electrical signals through a lead (a wire) placed directly on the spinal cord. The lead has multiple electrodes that send electrical signals to the spinal cord. Normally, the spinal cord sends pain signals to the brain from peripheral nerves.

A spinal cord stimulator sends electrical signals to the spinal cord which effectively block the pain signals from reaching the brain. It is a form of neuromodulation. Pain is a subjective experience formed by how the brain processes pain signals.

If the signals from the spinal cord are blocked the brain does perceive the experience of pain. Much research on the engineering of this technology and the physiology involved . While there are risks involved, , over 30,000 devices are implanted in patients annually.

For many patients it is a life-altering technology. The differentiator for the Soin Neuroscience stimulator is the development of patient-specific customization of the pain-blocking signals the device puts out. It is akin to a fingerprint, tailored to each patient’s specific pain profile and physiological needs.

This personalization is crutial to achieving minimal pain scores for patients. As Dr. Soin explained: “The key is finding the right signal.

And that is what Soin Neuroscience has done. Right now spinal cord stimulator devices send basic types of signals that work like blips or beeps. We decided to deliver complex electrical signals to the spinal cord.

The way we figured out what the right type of signal was by converting the spinal cord stimulation signals into something we all could understand… we converted the electrical signals into a form of ‘noise’. Realizing that some noises are pleasant (like Mozart) and some are not (nails on a chalkboard) we decided to deliver complex harmonies to the nerves. The results were amazing.

” Soin Neuroscience’s other innovation is a gel patch that delivers a topical pain relief solution. Unlike traditional patches, it is applied as a gel and dries clear, resistant to washing off with water, and capable of delivering medication for 6-8 hours. Its ease of application allows it to be used on hard-to-reach areas, offering potential relief for a variety of pain conditions.

From Clinic to Market: Overcoming the Challenges Facing a Neuromodulation Startup The motivation for the research and technologies Soin Neuroscience is developing were born out of a need to address the opioid crisis that Soin himself was seeing firsthand in his clinical practice. “I started it after realizing people are dying of opioid overdoses because we don’t have great alternatives to treat pain without addiction,” But success does not come without its challenges. Soin pointed out how the industry and market present a number of uphill obstacles for startups in this space.

“New price controls in pharma may limit potential upside. The FDA approval process is super expensive and time-consuming, and clinical trials are complex. It’s difficult to compete with incumbent medical device companies.

And navigating the insurance and reimbursement landscape is difficult. ” There exists an interdependent interplay that startups in this space need to navigate between regulatory bodies, large medical device and pharma companies, and insurance companies, all whom have a say in determining a new product’s viability. In the next two to three years, Dr.

Soin is targeting a number of significant milestones: Progressing beyond proof-of-concept trials and obtaining FDA approval for their products, launching the gel patch, and seeking strategic partnerships to bring the spinal cord stimulator to market. The company is preparing for large-scale human trials and is exploring avenues to introduce its spinal cord stimulator, TunedTX, to the healthcare market. The Growth and Potential of Brain and Spinal Cord Machine Interface Technologies Brain and spinal cord interface technologies, including in the neuromodulation space, is an active and ever growing field.

put the growth of these technologies at a compound annual growth rate of over 15% and total market size of over $15 billion by 2030. Advances in the understanding of the physiology of the brain and the engineering behind the technology are pushing these devices beyond a simple one size fits all to patient-specific tailored solutions. That is precisely the direction Soin Neuroscience is taking.

And because of advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence, the next generation of brain and spinal cord machine interface and neuromodulation technologies will be even more sophisticated. will react in a context dependent way to the evolution of disease progression tailored to the needs of the individual patient. The impact of the quality of life on the patient and their families will be tremendous.

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